The Perks of Always Being Late
by swaglikecosima
Summary: Cophine. Cosima is a senior at U of Mn and Delphine ends up being her TA. (my first fan fic so if it's terrible I'M SORRY, VERY SORRY)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"ughhh… so sunny." Cosima groaned, groggily wiping at her eyes as she woke up. Rolling over, she glanced at the clock. 8:17. Oh good, class doesn't start until 9 so maybe I'll manage to be on time for once, she thought. Rolling out of bed, she grabbed her glasses off the nightstand and walked to the bathroom to brush her teeth and start getting ready for class.

Staring at herself in the mirror, she messed with her dreadlocks until they were pulled up and looked presentable. As she started brushing her teeth she wondered what she had to do that day. "Shit!" Cosima cried. She had forgotten that this was the Monday the senior students at the University of Minnesota had access to the class registration system online.

She quickly finished brushing her teeth and ran to her computer. On it was a colorful double helix that she thought added some personal flair to its appearance, seeing as she was totally into science. Currently, she was majoring in biology and planned to look into getting a PhD in Evolutionary Development after she graduated. Cosima quickly logged into the online registration system, knowing that since registration had opened at 7am and she was nearly an hour and a half late, most of the good classes would already be filling up. She still needed an immunology class to fill one of her degree requirements.

"No, no, no" Cosima said and put her face in her hands. The immunology class she had wanted to take with Professor Bell was already full. The only other option was the immunology class with Professor Leekie. She had wanted to avoid taking a class with him at all costs. She had seen him walking around campus in the science buildings and he gave her the chills. It was something she couldn't put her finger on, but she had quickly decided she did not like him.

Cosima and her best friend Scott, who also happened to really be her only good friend, had planned on taking Professor Bell's immunology class together and it looked like that now wasn't going to happen. Grabbing her phone, Cosima quickly dialed Scott's number. "Hey, why didn't you call and make sure I was awake? I totally slept in and didn't register for Professor Bell's immunology class." After a brief pause, Scott responded with, "well, I figured you would have your alarm on or something! What are you going to do?" Lighting her joint, she replied with "I'm going to get high for now and come up with a plan. See you in class."

After hanging up, Cosima walked over and opened the window, sitting on the ledge and watching the smoke drift outside and feeling the weed's effects starting and a calmness settling over her. She started thinking of ways to get into Professor Bell's class despite the fact that it was full. There was no way she could not take the immunology class at this point, since next semester would be her last. So it was either con-artist her way into Professor Bell's class, or suffer through a semester with Freaky Leekie. She shivered at the thought and decided that a trip to see her advisor was in order.

She walked back to her computer and sent an e-mail to her advisor letting her know she had concerns about her schedule for next semester and needed to meet to discuss the problem and try to find a solution. While waiting for a response, she walked to her closet to finish getting ready. Cosima was putting on her coat when she heard a ping come from her laptop to notify her that she had received an e-mail. Her advisor had said she could meet with her at 1pm after lunch to discuss the problem. Satisfied that she would find a way to get herself squeezed into Professor Bell's class, she closed the laptop with a fleeting glance at the time, 8:54 - maybe she wasn't going to be on time after all.

Since it was her lunch hour, Cosima was actually early for once and sat down in the waiting area of her advisor's office at 12:45. She glanced into her advisor's office and then did a double take. Currently standing in the doorway, exiting her advisor's office was a tall, gorgeous blonde. Her hair fell to her shoulders in curls and when Cosima's eyes connected with the girl's brown eyes she felt herself blush and looked down. Who was she? Cosima didn't recognize her and surely she would have remembered seeing this girl walking around campus. Might have to get the scoop from the advisor, Cosima thought to herself. When she looked back up the girl was gone.

Her advisor Ms. Hendrix noticed her sitting in the waiting area and motioned for her to go ahead and come into her office. Smirking as she entered the office, Cosima said, "Hello Alison. That's a nice pink sweater you're wearing today!" Ms. Hendrix's eyes narrowed and she replied, "How many times must I tell you to call me Ms. Hendrix, Cosima! But anyways, thank you. I made this sweater. Now tell me, what is this urgent scheduling issue that you wanted to discuss?" Getting a little nervous for the first time since entering the office, Cosima cleared her throat and said, "Well, you see Ms. Hendrix. I may have overslept a little this morning, so when I got up and logged onto the registration system, the immunology class was full. I need that class to graduate. So, I was wondering if you could just squeeze me into Professor Bell's class?"

Typing away at her computer, Ms. Hendrix responded with, "Oh, you must have missed it Cosima, there's no problem at all. There are still quite a few spots left in Professor Leekie's class. I'll add you into the class now before it fills up." Cosima couldn't help the panic that came across her expression and she blurted out, "No! Wait." Ms. Hendrix stopped mid-keystroke and glanced up at Cosima with a questioning look. "The thing is - Ms. Hendrix. I've taken classes with Professor Bell in the past and… and, my best friend Scott is also registered for Professor Bell's class. And I don't really know Professor Leekie? So, I think it would be best for all involved if we just squeezed me into Professor Bell's class."

Adamantly shaking her head, Ms. Hendrix, who was known to be a stickler for the rules, responded with, "No, Cosima. That simply will not be happening today. There are class size limitations for a reason. I can't just break the rules because you want to be in the class with your best friend. And you may not know Professor Leekie now, but you will get to know him in class next semester. I've gone ahead and registered you for it." Cosima groaned and slid down in her chair, staring at the ceiling. I am going to need to get so baked after this, she thought. "Please, Ms. Hendrix. Is there nothing we can do here?" Ms. Hendrix simply looked at her and shook her head.

Sighing, Cosima accepted defeat. Getting up and gathering her things, she remembered the hot blonde. "Oh, umm… Ms. Hendrix, I couldn't help but notice you speaking to a nice looking girl a moment ago before you met with me. Who was that? I didn't recognize her." Looking at her questioningly, Ms. Hendrix said, "Why do you ask? You've never shown interest in getting to know new students at the school." Apparently my anti-social behavior proceeds me. "No reason, Ms. Hendrix, I just thought I should welcome her to the school and maybe give her a tour if she was new." Looking as if she didn't quite believe her, Ms. Hendrix said, "Her name is Delphine Cormier. She is a graduate student transferring to us from France. She has already had a thorough tour of the campus. But, I have other new students who might…" Before Ms. Hendrix could stick her with some random newbie, Cosima interrupted saying, "Shit. Whoops, sorry. Forgot I have somewhere to be, I'll catch you later Ms. Hendrix, thanks for the help!"

Well, I may have gotten stuck with Leekie but at least one good thing came out of the meeting, getting the name of this new mysterious French grad student, she thought. Now all I need to do is find a way to talk to her, she frowned and started to walk home in the chill of Minnesota in winter.


	2. Chapter 2

Weeks had gone by and she had not managed to see Delphine again, and Cosima was starting to get frustrated. She had tried finding the girl on social media, but when she found her Facebook page it only had a few photos and everything was mostly private. There was nothing to indicate from what was available to the public on her profile whether she was even into girls. It was creepy enough to be basically stalking the girl online, but she justified that to herself by saying that pretty much everyone does it.

But, there really was no way she could try to send the girl a friend request without seeming like a total psycho. Like, "hey, remember me? We made eye contact that one time at the advisor's office. So obvs, I thought it would be best to find you and make you be my friend." Probably not the best pickup line. So Cosima had dejected herself to becoming friends with this girl the old fashioned way, by finding her at school and introducing herself.

She had wandered aimlessly around the science buildings looking for her, but never caught a glimpse of her. Ms. Hendrix mainly advised science majors, so she had figured that Delphine was studying some type of science field, making her all the more attractive in Cosima's mind for liking science too. But, what if she had gotten stuck with Ms. Hendrix as a last minute thing and wasn't even a science grad student? Frustrated after taking the long way out of the school, constantly looking left and right for a glimpse of the blonde, Cosima shoved the door open and left the school. Looking down she reached inside her coat pocket for her phone, about to text Scott to tell him she was going to come over to go over outlines for their final exam the next day, which would be their last final before Christmas break.

The next thing she knew she bumped into someone since she wasn't looking, lost her balance, slipped on a patch of ice, and flew backwards onto the ground. "Merde!" Cosima heard as she laid on her back on the ground. Her glasses had flown off and she had the wind knocked out of her, so she decided to just lay there for a second. Cosima heard the currently unidentified voice speaking to her again, saying "Je suis désolé! Merde. I'm sorry. Are you ok? I did not see you there!"

Finally sitting up and feeling around for her glasses, Cosima responded with "no, it's ok. Totally my fault." She felt fingers placing her glasses into her hand, "thanks, I can hardly see without these." Everything becoming clear, Cosima looked up and found herself gazing directly into the eyes of Delphine. Funny how sometimes things happen when you aren't trying.

She knew she should say something, but Cosima was frozen, it was like those eyes held her in a trance. Delphine looked at her quizzically and said, "Are you sure you're ok? What is it?" Cosima finally broke herself free from the stare and pushed herself off the ground, standing. "Sorry, I'm clumsy and wasn't looking where I was going. I'm Cosima." She reached out her hand. Delphine took her hand, gave her a slight smile and said "Delphine. Enchantée." Knowing her French accent would probably be terrible, but not caring, Cosima smiled and said, "Enchantée."

Knowing this was her chance, Cosima asked, "So, you're new here? I haven't seen you around." Nodding, Delphine said, "Oui. Yes. I just moved from France. I'm getting my PhD in immunology." It made sense, Cosima thought. Most of the immunology classes were taught by Professor Leekie, and since she generally avoided Leekie at all costs, that's probably why she hadn't ran into Delphine before now. How could she stand being around him so much? Such a creep. Realizing she had been staring, Cosima said "Oh, awesome. I'm a biology major. I'm planning on doing a PhD in Evo Devo next." Delphine stared at her for a minute and then snapped, saying "Evolutionary Development!" Cosima nodded. Their eyes met again; goddd why is she so pretty Cosima thought to herself.

She could feel herself blushing the longer she looked at Delphine. Delphine was the first to break the eye contact and said, "Well, it was very nice to meet you Cosima and I'm sorry about your fall. I hope you are ok and I will see you around campus?" They exchanged smiles and Delphine walked away. Blew it. I'm off my game, I should have gotten her number or asked her to hang out or something, Cosima thought. Oh well, it was a start at least, even if I did look like a fool laying there on the ground. She finished the walk home and lit up a joint, the blonde still on her mind.


End file.
